History

We are using Susan Wise Bauer's 'Story of the World' as our history spine for both boys. It is a chronological, narrative telling of history from the ancient nomads of Mesopotamia through to the 20th century. It takes 4 years to get right through. Her approach is that you then repeat the process in a more in-depth fashion over the next 4 years

Before we started I was concerned that we wouldn't be spending enough time on each topic. Now I can see that actually by rapidly covering a lot of stuff one sees more clearly what these civilisations had in common. We also practise core skills: Struan is on his first tromp through, so each week he is asked to "narrate" (to sum up in his own words what he has learned), complete some map work and do extra reading on the topic (we order a lot from the local library) Now that he's a bit older, Aly is expected to draw up outlines (essay plans), analyse primary sources and complete more complex maps.

Along the way we have done lots of hands-on projects too. Many from the "Story of the World" activity guide. We've had the Pharos of Alexandria made out of a used Pringles tube on our hall table, demonstrated how the West African nations became rich by taxing the movement of gold by spending a day taxing Daddy 1p every time he passed through the kitchen and celebrated the saving of Vienna from the Ottoman Turks by having croissants for breakfast whilst listening out for anyone tunnelling under the kitchen....